Fowler

Think Housing's Bad? You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

The areas that are truly, truly vulnerable are those that have been developed based on the second home market and places like Vegas and Phoenix where developers can actually find land or lots to develop (these are always the most vulnerable areas). In the other markets where you have both jobs and great school systems, say Mill Valley or Atherton in NorCal, Sudbury or Brookline outside Boston or Manhattan Beach in SoCal, real houses (i.e., 4 bedrooms) are still appreciating today. In terms of this data, it is based on medians and the median numbers have to come down because the fools kept building houses as long as the street made the money available. Your best strategy is to try to find the best piece of property in the best market you can afford at a fair price and use as much leverage is you are comfortable with. If you can not afford a high quality market, buy income property and save up.